The Evolution Of The Pc And Microsoft Essay -- essays research papers

The Evolution of the PC and MicrosoftXerox, Apple, IBM, and Compaq all played major roles in the developmentof the Personal Computer, or PC, and the success of Microsoft. Though it may expect so, the computer industry did not just pop-up overnight. It took manyyears of dedication, hard-work, and most importantly, thievery to turn thepersonal computer from a machine the size of a Buick, used only by zit-faced nerds, to the very machine I am typing this report on.Xerox started everything off by creating the first personal computer,the ALTO, in 1973. However, Xerox did not release the computer because they didnot think that was the direction the industry was going. This was the first ofmany mistakes Xerox would make in the next both decades. So, in 1975, Ed Robertsbuilt the Altair 80800, which is largely regarded as the first PC. However, theAltair really served no real purpose. This left computer-lovers still yearningfor the perfect PC...actually, it didnt develop to be perfect, mos t nerds justwanted their computer to do SOMETHING.The burning need for a PC was met in 1977, when Apple, a company formedby Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, released its Apple II. Now the nerds weresatisfied, but that wasnt enough. In order to catapult the PC in to a big-timeproduct, Apple needed to make it marketable to the average Joe. This was madepossible by Vi...